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Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A tale of intrigue and excitement and Polish trickery awaits. Let's get right to it, shall we? A while back, I entered a contest over at All About Cards. Participants were tasked with guessing the team and decade of debut of the player whose cut auto would be pulled out of a TCSP product. I went with Dodgers and 1940s, because vintage Brooklyn Dodgers is fantastic in any form.

Lo and behold, the above popped out of the TCSP box. A 1/1 cut auto of Carl Erskine, who made his big league debut in late July of 1948. I was stoked to win, and Ian, All About Cards' excellent proprietor, put me into contact with the TCSP folks. After filling out a few forms and waiting a few weeks (I believe TCSP is located somewhere in Poland), my prize arrived. TCSP had decreed a cut auto numbered out of five or less as the prize, but what I received was anything but.

The TCSP people sent me a pair of Bryce Harper "RCs" that are each numbered out of 100 and look as though they've pilfered a photo of the Nats' phenom from a high school yearbook photo shoot. I let Ian know what had arrived, and after a bit of runaround from the TCSP staff, he was informed that they had marked me down as having been sent the cut auto, didn't really believe I had been sent the Harpers, and either way, were out of cut autos.

After being told all of this, Ian went above and beyond to rectify the situation. He sent me the Erskine cut auto he pulled, as well as the above stamp card /50 the box yielded. It's my first Erskine auto, which is pretty cool. But he didn't stop there. Among the various other things to come my way were four Ginter needs (three Hometown Heroes and one base need - scanned in the Beckett, realized after that I already had it).

Ian also sent along a pair of vintage Dodgers. Mr. Unibrow himself on a beautiful '61 is always a welcome sight around these here parts.

Last but certainly not least, Ian knocked off two cards that have been on my Want List seemingly forever. The mini Kershaw Heritage RC is just nails and an awesome add to my Kid K Collection, and young Brox is awesome as well.

Ian, you are a mensch in the truest sense of the word. You went above and beyond, and I really appreciate it. Many, many, many thanks! I'll keep you updated with the TCSP potential 8x10.